Wormlight
by Twitters001
Summary: The story of the rise of the Knights of Brockton Bay and the origins of their powers.
1. Prologue - Cricket

**Prologue - Cricket**

Cricket ran through the dark alleyway, feet dancing over the ground effortlessly, propelling her around a sharp corner and further away from her pursuer. It had been a mistake to raid the Knights' territory, those _vigilantes_ were not just harmless gang members with a single cape. Kaiser was going to be pissed but the Empire was outgunned, for the first time in years.

She shook her head as she remembered the ambush. Those damned swords, passing effortlessly through the Empire's loyal. Stormtiger's eyes burning out as a blade pierced his heart. Hookwolf's retreat as his body was shorn with those impossible weapons, how were they to know the Knights had a tinker making weapons and armour?

And Cricket got the impression they were holding back.

She focused back on her escape, and paused at the end of the alley. A pulse of sonar showed no one nearby so she sprinted across the street, wishing the distance was shorter. She reached the pavement opposite just has she heard a shout. Turning as she neared the shop fronts brought a figure in gleaming black armour into view, it was holding one of those swords, a Knight. His face was covered by a stylised helm, but he had been at the fight earlier, which meant he recognised her.

Cricket hurled herself through the shop window, ignoring the glass slicing her flesh, she had to get out of sight. If she could close with one of them in a small space she had a chance at beating them. But out in the open they could maneuverer around her, it could be flight or some kind of weird mover ability but they just dashed through the air when attacking, jumps longer and faster than should be possible…it was why the ambush was over so quickly. The normal all crippled or dead, the capes chased off except for Stormtiger.

It was a massacre earlier, and she would find herself sharing their fate if she didn't keep moving.

The world suddenly shifted beneath her feet. Upwards was now ahead of her and she fell backwards, out the shop window and across the street. She felt herself moving in a perfect, horizontal line and sensed the edge of the alleyway before she clipped it, just managing to grab it.

She caught her breath as her arms were almost yanked out of her sockets, and looked around, grimacing in pain. She was dangling off a ledge…no. She was dangling off a wall, sideways. Downwards was down the alleyway for some reason, and the pavement was a wall next to her.

Cricket heard the heavy footsteps as she sensed the bulk of the armoured Knight.

"I suppose you're here to finish me off," she muttered.

The Knight spoke in smooth voice, "No, I'm here to take you back with us. We have questions." He gestured and gravity returned to normal, causing Cricket to fall to the pavement.

She tried to spring upwards, and draw her Kamas in one action. She couldn't, finding her body and clothes stuck to the ground everywhere they touched it. Cricket glanced up at him, glad he couldn't see her expression beneath her mask.

"You attacked us." His sword appeared in the palm of his hand, mist coalescing in the surrounding air. "This war will be on your heads." The man moved his sword beneath her chin, and she frantically pulled her head up away from it. She couldn't let it touch her. "We need you alive. For the interrogations, and carrying our message back to Kaiser."

"You-" She spluttered, "You will regret this."

He tilted his helm, "No, no we will not." The Knight drew his fist back and caught her in the side of the head, her mask hitting the ground. She didn't rise again. He nodded to himself and pulled out a phone whilst the sword vanished.

"Herald? I have Cricket, she's unconscious. Requesting transport. Understood, see you in an hour."

He pocketed the phone and threw the unconscious cape over his shoulder before moving back down the alley, out of sight of the road.


	2. 1,1 - Taylor

**1.1 - Taylor**

They scared Taylor at first, the spirits. They were _everywhere._ The spirits held objects to the floor, they danced inside fires and swam through water.

For the first few days after the locker, Taylor was terrified to even open her eyes. Keeping them closed helped but she could still feel the spirits tugging at her, asking to talk to her in a way.

She realised she was a cape as soon as she started thinking rationally. Weird unexplainable things happening was a sure sign someone around you had powers, and if it was something only Taylor was seeing? That meant they were _her_ powers.

But now? Now she was going to do some research on powers. And then she would experiment with her new abilities, whatever they were. She smirked as she left the house, her powers couldn't just be seeing these spirits everywhere.

She had no internet at home so she was heading the library, a thirty minute walk or ten on the bus. Taylor was walking it though, as she wanted to get a look at all the spirits in the area. Try to see what types there were.

She paused to pull out her notebook before continuing, flicking through the pages. It was filled with sketches of the spirits she had seen so far, along with descriptions of what caused them to appear.

She looked up at an intersection, waiting for a break in the traffic to cross. Wispy, feminine wind spirits spiralled into existence behind cars and she smiled as they waved their bodies at her before fading away. That was one of the weird things she had noticed, the spirits were never permanent. They would always fade away once their source disappeared.

Taylor continued her journey, pondering why that was. Specific types of spirit appeared under specific conditions. And those conditions didn't have to be physical. She had been shocked when small grey-blue spirits appeared in the hospital, surrounding her when she realised how weak and useless she was. The tears rolling down her face had seemed to encourage the spirits. More grey-blue, downcast figures slowly crawling over the bed sheets.

So far she had worked out that large forces, emotions and energy sources-fire, electricity- seemed to create the spirits. She suspected weather would as well but she would have to wait for rain or a storm before she could check that.

Around her though, there were a whole menagerie. There were ones pushing cars along and others pulling them down, spirits of a variety of shapes and colours dancing around people's heads, disgusting and disturbing spirits crawling through rubbish and over homeless people-probably merchants.

Taylor stopped suddenly as she realised she had walked past the library whilst lost in her thoughts. Shaking her head at being a scatterbrain she headed into the library and logged on to one of the ancient computers.

There was a trove of information on cape powers (unsurprisingly) but very little on how they got them. On the other hand there was very little on how capes got their powers. After ten minutes of searching she found a thread on the PHO forums talking about things called trigger events. They were supposedly what gave parahumans their powers, and were described as the worse day of their life. _That description definitely fits the locker._ Apparently most capes didn't talk about their trigger event. Taylor grimaced at that, she certainly didn't want to tell anyone about the locker, even if it had given her powers.

According to the forums, the only trigger event that was common knowledge was Glory Girl's. She also was from Brockton Bay, a member of the hero team New Wave, whose civilian identities were public knowledge. They were an exception though, and just as well for Glory Girl's trigger event was in public. The forums said she had been fouled in a basketball game? _That_ was the worst day of her life? It was supposedly to do with her being a second generation cape, having parents who had powers. Taylor was disgusted though, how did _she_ get it so easy? If all other capes had to go through hell to get powers? She shook her head and tried to put it out of her mind, going back to her research.

The wiki pages summarising powers mentioned that most capes had a way of understanding or viewing their own powers that was unique to them, like their brain making adjustments to their perception, allowing them to use their abilities properly. It was described as a sixth sense. Frowning, Taylor considered what she knew about her powers. The spirits she saw represented physical and emotional…concepts? It would allow her to see people's emotions; that was probably the strongest part of her power that she knew of. She hoped her power could do other things as well, viewing emotions was…underwhelming.

Scrolling down the wiki page, she saw that the PRT had classifications for powers; mover, shaker, brute, breaker, master, tinker, blaster, thinker, striker, changer, trump and stranger. Seeing spirits and understanding what they represented would make her a thinker. If she could control them it would make her a master. Taylor paused, could she control them? She looked around, spotting some dirt coloured spirits holding onto the bottoms of the bookshelves in the library.

Taylor got up and walked over to the nearest shelf, crouching down to look closer at the spirits. They turned their single eyes on her but didn't back off, they seemed almost curious. She felt a slight tugging, inside her head. She backed off and the feeling ceased. Approaching them caused it to return again.

"Are you okay?" Taylor jumped at the voice, spinning to come face to face with a librarian. The young blonde stared at her before grinning. "I made you jump didn't I? Sorry. I don't think you need any help?" She raised an eyebrow, eyes flicking to the computer screen.

"N-no I'm fine, thanks." Taylor mumbled in response.

The young woman - teenager? - nodded in response and walked off, leaving Taylor to continue staring at the brown spirits holding the base of the bookshelf.

The tugging was still there, pulling her mind towards the spirits. It wanted her to let her mind flow towards them, connect to them. All she had to do was allow her mind to relax, and she did. She gasped. A flow of ideas came through the connection between her and the nearest spirit. There was an underlying idea of gravity, that down was down, and that things should fall downwards. The spirit _was_ gravity, she knew, yet it wasn't at the same time. It was one with the pull of gravity yet gravity would continue to exist without it, but it seemed to have gravity flowing through it.

Taylor paused, pushing the connection aside for a second. Could she do something with that?

She focused on the spirit, instead of the connection. It seemed receptive to her, as though it was listening now. If it was part of gravity, could she use it to change gravity? She pushed a thought across. _Make the shelf float._ A sense of confusion came across the link, so she tried again. _Make the shelf go upwards._ Confusion again until the last word, nothing happened but the spirit understood…not the word, but the concept.

Taylor slapped her forehead, she should have realised. If the spirits represented concepts, then they would only respond to concepts in return. If she wanted the shelf to float then she would need to send the concept of floating to the spirit.

She pushed the idea down the connection. _Floating, no gravity._ She felt a mental shrug through the connection and sighed, it hadn't worked….her thoughts stopped as the spirits moved. Instead of holding the shelf they had let go.

 _What…?_

She reached out to the shelf, confused. It wasn't floating but the spirits had done something. As her hand met it, the shelf moved slightly. Taylor had barely touched it, but the massive wooden shelves had shifted as though it was as light as a feather. She tried to move it again, pulling it upwards with her hand this time. The shelves rose up slowly as she did so. When she let go, it continued moving, inching upwards.

So she did have other powers.

 _I wonder if I can reverse gravity, instead of just stopping it._

She sent another idea to the spirits. _Gravity is upwards._ Immediately the spirits rushed to the bookcase and dragged it upwards. Taylor stood stunned as the shelves crashed into the ceiling, cracking and splintering as the books fell out, also affected by the reversed gravity. The gravity spirits were now holding the remains of the bookcase to the ceiling. Taylor could have sworn that they looked smug and satisfied but she _was_ standing at the scene of the destruction and probably looked as guilty as sin.

She grabbed her stuff and ran, brushing past the blond girl from earlier and another librarian who was running towards the crash, receiving suspicious look from the latter.

Taylor ran a couple of blocks before setting her back against a wall and taking deep gulps of air. She couldn't go back to library now, dammit. She should have realised what would happen if she reversed gravity, how could she be so stupid? She gritted her teeth and continued walking. She should get home soon though, her dad didn't like her out late.

When she reached her house, her dad was asleep on the couch so she let herself in, avoiding the half-rotten step. Several spirits fluttered around him as he slept and she stepped towards them before smelling something. There was dinner cooking in the oven, lasagne, she noticed when she looked in, her mum's recipe.

She smiled sadly as she looked at her dad, he hadn't been the same after her death, not even realising there was something wrong at school until she was hospitalised. It wasn't his fault though, he just didn't deal with emotions that well, it was always her mum who had noticed and sat them down to solve any issues. He still loved Taylor though, she knew that, but she did wish he'd talk to someone about her death, even all these years later. It was still dragging around his neck and anyone could see he wasn't happy.

It didn't help that his job as the Dockworker's Association kept him permanently stressed. She sighed as she watched him snoring peacefully on the sofa, she wouldn't wake him. Just put the lasagne in the fridge when it was done, and leave a note on the cooker. She finished and yawned suddenly. Taylor checked the time, it was only seven yet she was exhausted. Several spirits spiralled into existence around her, she connected to them without realising. Tiredness and exhaustion flowed through the connection.

 _I suppose I am really tired after today._ Taylor shrugged, the spirits wouldn't appear unless she was truly tired. She glanced at her dad feeling a faint pull. Confused she tried to open a connection, only to cause the feeling to disappear. _Weird._ She just dismissed it and walked upstairs before falling onto her bed. She didn't bother to close the door and just threw her clothes off before slipping under the sheets. More of the tiredness spirits spiralled into being above her and she closed her eyes, letting herself drift off.


	3. 1,2 - Danny

**1.2 - Danny**

Danny stirred, and raised a hand to wipe the drool from his face. He must have fallen asleep he realised. He had just been sitting down whilst waiting for dinner to…the lasagne! He sprung upright in panic and ran to the kitchen. Sighing as he saw the note, he leant back on the kitchen table. Taylor had taken the lasagne out earlier. It wasn't burnt thankfully.

He turned around to see a faint trace of purple on the floor. Had Taylor spilt something earlier? Danny rubbed his eyes and had another look. The floor was the same plain, old colour it had been for years. "Am I seeing things?" he muttered, "I should get more sleep". He didn't feel tired though, not even managing a yawn. He shrugged and moved back into the lounge, sitting back down in the comfortable dent in the sofa.

His thoughts returned to Taylor and guilt flooded through him. How had he not noticed she was being bullied? He was meant to be her father dammit! If he'd noticed earlier he could have talked to her about it, arranged something with Winslow High and prevented her from ever being hospitalised.

Danny buried his head in his hands. He had _failed_ to be a father. What would Annette think of him now? He choked back a sob but it did nothing to prevent the tears. He has lost his wife and now almost his daughter. Grey-blue and white and red flickered across his vision.

 _Oh god. I am seeing thing. I'm going mad!_

He sobbed harder.

He sat there for what seemed like hours before the rivulets of water running down his face stopped. Danny raised his head, gripping the armsrest and looked around. White and red petals spiralled around him, dancing through the air, accompanied by blue-grey teardrops craving slow, graceful arcs through the room.

 _What are they? Am I going mad?_

He stood, and reached out to touch the nearest. A white petal. As his hand neared, it easily dodged, continuing its dance away from him.

If this was some cape's power, he had never heard of it, although did he have powers? He didn't think so. As far as he knew, when capes got their powers it was pretty obvious to them and everyone around them. He began walking around the room.

Danny considered the situation. If he was _just_ seeing things, then telling someone would only get Taylor taken away from him. A quiet sob escaped unbidden. He couldn't let that happen, he couldn't let her down again. But - Danny paused pacing - on the other hand, if this was some cape's power he should let the PRT know, it could be dangerous. These things floating around hadn't done anything, but neither had the Simurgh when she first appeared. His first priority was to protect Taylor.

He nodded to himself. He would go check on Taylor, explain what was going on, what he was seeing. And then go to the PRT. They would advise him on what to do.

He started walking up the stairs, the petal shapes following him. A cold draught blew towards him, bringing a solitary, translucent sliver twirling down afterwards. _Taylor must have left a window open._

At her door, he paused, it was open but she was still inside, asleep on her bed. He grimaced as he noticed the pile of clothes on the floor, before taking a deep breath. _Please don't think I'm crazy. Please don't, Taylor._ Danny knocked to let her know he was there and entered.

"Taylor? Wake up,".

His daughter stirred before mumbling something into the pillow.

"Come on sweetie. It's important." He ruffled her hair, ignoring the petals moving about the room.

"What time is it dad?" Taylor spoke into the bed.

"That's not what's important. I think there's a parahumans nearby, they might be dangerous."

She shot up, suddenly alert, spluttering a response, "Wha-what? D-do you know who?"

"I don't know who they are." Danny shook his head, "They're making me see things though. You aren't seeing things as well are you?"

"I…uh…" Taylor stuttered, drawing a suspicious look from her father, "Wh-what kind of things are you seeing?"

Danny noticed more petals forming around her, and took a moment before replying. "Shapes, Taylor. They appear out of thin air and seem to have a life of their own." He looked at her face, noticing she had frozen. "Taylor?" he asked cautiously.

"Uh…yeah dad. Um," He could see her cheeks flushing even in the dark of her room. "I…uh, I think I need to tell you something."

Her dad rose an eyebrow, feeling a mixture of anger and guilt flash through him before pushing it back.

"I-I'm a cape dad. It-it was the locker. Since I woke up in the hospital I've been seeing the things you mentioned everywhere, I call them spirits, and I think I can control them as part of my power. From what I can tell they are like representations of concepts but they actually are what they represent so like in the library today I realised I could tell them what to do and I told the ones acting as gravity for a bookshelf that gravity was up and the bookshelf hit the ceiling and broke and please don't yell at me for breaking it and not telling you!"

Taylor started crying and Danny leant her an arm, despite the myriad of emotions swirling through his mind.

"I don't even know where to begin Taylor. Wait you broke a bookshelf? What exactly do your powers do? Wait, why can I see these spirits now? I couldn't before I woke up today."

She just gripped him tighter, burying her face in his shirt.

"Oh Taylor. Look, sit up." He pried her off and held her face with one hand. "I am not mad. Disappointed maybe, but not mad." _Never mad._ "You probably should have tested your powers somewhere else-"

"I was going to but I just thought…I wanted to see…." She started sobbing again.

"Hey, hey sweetie. It's okay. It's in the past now. We'll work out exactly what you can do together, and we'll find out why I can now see these." He gestured at the spirits gathered around them. "Okay?"

She nodded weakly before hugging him. "Thanks dad," she whispered.

"Now, do you think you'll be able to go back to sleep?" She shook her head, "Okay, I'll make some tea and get some biscuits out. We'll brainstorm what we know about your powers and work out what you can do okay?" He smiled at her, ruffling her long her as he stood up. "Meet me downstairs when you're dressed okay?"

"Okay dad."

Danny left the room and made his way back down stairs. That translucent thing – spirit – from earlier followed him, twirling in the shape of a ribbon. He tried to ignore it but it moved in front of him, twisting into the shape of a silvery woman. He stopped, he hadn't much experience with Taylor's spirits but none of them had actually engaged with him in any way. The spirit stared at him for a moment before cocking its head, laughing silently and spiralling off, flying around the kitchen ceiling. He grunted, putting it to the back of his mind as he boiled some water.

He scratched the stubble on his chin as he waited for the tea to brew and for Taylor to come down. He could hear her slowly making her way down the stairs. _She's trying to work out what to say to me_ he realised. Danny was disappointed she hadn't told him earlier, but he was also truly glad that he had found out before she decided to start playing hero…or worse.

Manipulating gravity. Making him see these spirits. An unusual pair of powers, apparent even to some as detached from cape news as he was. Danny mulled it over as Taylor came through and sat down. He brought the mugs to the table, sitting down opposite her, still considering what he knew.

"So kiddo," He looked her in the eye, "I've never really followed the cape scene like you did, but I am interested as to what you can do."

His daughter blushed, "I'm not too sure yet," she stammered, "At first all it was, was seeing these spirits everywhere. I realised later that the spirits represent things, emotions, forces, energy." She paused, embarrassment crossing her features, and more of the petals appearing near her head. "Then, today - or yesterday I suppose - in the library, I realised I could connect the spirits. I, um, tried it out on what I think was a gravity spirit?"

"Don't ask me Taylor," He grinned at her, "It's your power."

"Um yeah, I guess I told the spirit to reverse gravity for the bookcase. Aaaand you can guess what happened…"

"You trashed the library?" He tried to stifle a laugh, partially succeeding.

She glared at him, "No! It wasn't like that! It was just…I was just…" tailing off, Taylor looked sheepishly at him.

"Just the bookshelf?" Danny smiled sympathetically at her, "It's fine, though, honestly. From what I've heard, and it's not much, new capes tend to end up…uh, making a bit of a mess when they use their powers for the first time."

"I-I guess that makes sense. I mean I don't fully understand my powers still."

"Do you want to?"

"What do you mean? Of course I want to," That glare was back.

"Woah sorry sweetie, I'm just making sure."

Taylor frowned at him in response, "I still don't know why you can now…." She paused, mouth half open.

"Taylor?"

"I remember now, last night when I came in you were asleep on the sofa. I felt like I could connect to you, like with the spirits. But, when I tried, the feeling disappeared. I forgot about it after that."

"Okay. Let me get this straight. You can use your power to control your spirits?"

"I wouldn't say they're mine…"

"Okay, but you can also use your power on people too? You didn't mind control me or anything did you?"

Taylor tilted her head, "I didn't master you, I'm sure. And maybe? I only felt it with you though. I can't feel it anymore, as I said…"She frowned and rested her head on the table, a look of concentration spread across her face. "Wait, there's something, if I focus…"

Danny leant forward, curiosity overriding his fear. He opened his mouth when Taylor spoke again.

"I-it's different to the spirits. I can sense that _you_ have connections, two in fact." She focused on something again before replying, "There's one to me, and it's inactive right now" she paused before hurriedly adding, "But nothing like the connections that allow me to control the spirits. The other…it's from you to something else. A…a spirit. Nothing like I've seen before. The connections really weak, I could probably break it."

"Wait. Wait a second Taylor. Is one of those, is a spirit controlling me?" Panic rose in him, accompanied by purple, wriggling spirits rising from the table.

"No! Definitely not. It's not that sort of connection, I'd describe it as…two way." She idly tapped the table whilst thinking about something, "I'm pretty sure I created that connection, between you and the spirit. That was what happened when _I_ tried to connect to you before. The spirit though, it's different. I'm not sure how yet, but I don't want to break the connection. It might cause it to disappear and we should find out more about what I did."

"So, you somehow connected me to one of your spirits, and yourself, by _accident_?"

Taylor shrunk back slightly, "um…yes?"

Danny shook his head and sighed, fear ebbing. "Okay, let's take a break from what happened to me. Let's focus on your other powers." A/N - This chapter is turning out much longer than I intended. I normally aim for 1500 words a chapter and this is just under 2000 and I'm only halfway through what I planned.

So, I've decided to split it into two parts. Danny's perspective when discussing his daughter's new found abilities - 1.2, this chapter. And Taylor's perspective when actually working out what she can do _with_ the spirits - 1.3, next chapter. She'll actually start using them to move things around and throw fire about, seeing how far she can push herself. And she _will_ discover some major limits to her power.

Wait, did I say fire?


	4. 1,3 - Taylor

**1.3 – Taylor**

"…lets focus on your other powers."

Taylor paused, mind worrying over how much to tell him. This was her dad, and she'd already done _something_ to him with her powers. She sighed, she should tell him everything.

"I-I think I can control any spirit. But there actually has to be a spirit for me to do something."

Her dad nodded, "So…you can only use your powers if there is a spirit." He repeated, rubbing his stubble, "And spirits only appear when there is an abundance of…something?"

Taylor nodded, understanding what he was getting at. "So I can only use my powers if there is a lot of _something_ already there."

She grinned, causing a groan from her father. "I know that look, I saw it on your mother's face plenty of times before she suggested…" He grew red and muttered something under his breath.

Taylor raised an eyebrow but he ignored it.

"I've got an idea kiddo, but first, do you have a list or a diary of all the spirits you have seen?"

"Uhh, yeah its upstairs in my bag, I'll grab it quickly."

"You do that, we'll work out which ones will be safe for you to practice with."

Taylor paused with a hand on the door frame, and flashed a not-so-innocent grin, "So no throwing fire around yet?"

He put his head in his hand and she heard a muffled, "God no."

She dashed upstairs, into her room and slid the notebook out from her rucksack. Flicking through the pages, she found a spirit that would be safe-ish to use, and would be easily found in the house.

She almost skipped through the door, and slid the book across to her dad. He raised an eyebrow in response, "Ice spirits?"

"Yeah. The freezer! We can fill a plastic beaker with water, and I'll see if I can freeze it!"

"Hmm," He resumed stroking his chin.

"They're powers dad. They're never going to be completely safe."

"I guess, but I'm standing on the other side of the room."

Mock glaring at him, Taylor filled a beaker with water and set it on the floor next to the freezer. Taking a breath she opened the unit, curls of condensing air spreading outwards. Complex translucent shapes popped into existence, appearing in her mind as nodes, clearer this time. Mentally, she reached out to one and connected.

 _Cold. Freeze. Ice. Still._

Taylor could feel the iciness through the connection and reached out to it. The ice spirit's attention snapped onto her, and she pointed at the beaker. _Freeze the water._ It darted across the gap and submerged itself in the water. Almost immediately webs of ice appeared and spread throughout the liquid. As it progressed, more ice spirits appeared and latched onto the order she had given, the water freezing faster and faster, more and more connections forming. Once completely frozen, they turned their attention back to Taylor, and she pumped the air with her fist. She winked at her father before taking the washing up bowl, and filling it with water. This time she barely had to send an order and the spirits began freezing the new liquid.

An idea popped into Taylor's head and she focused her power. The spirits began moving to her will, freezing only the water she had directed them to. She gestured at her dad and he came over, gasping as he saw what she was doing. A massive, intricate snowflake was forming in the bowl.

Once it was finished, she pulled it out, barely noticing the cold. It was soft beneath he fingers, yet it didn't crumble. "Tada! I guess my control is a bit more refined than I realised."

He nodded, "It seems so."

"Um…" Taylor shuffled her feet, anticipating his response, "Can I try it with fire now? My control is pretty good, you know…" She gestured at the snowflake.

Her father's jaw set at that and he crossed his arms. "I'm not so sure that is a good idea, you only know you have good control with ice."

"We could test it outside? In the back garden?" A note of pleading entered her voice, and she strained to make puppy eyes.

"Ugh, I'm going to regret this but sure." He massaged his temples before grabbing some matches and a candle. "Let's get this over and done with."

They headed outside and her dad set the candle down in the middle of the garden before lighting it. He backed off. Slightly quicker than he needed to, she thought.

A singe flame spirit appeared and danced around the flickering flame, bathing in its heat. Its insectoid shape seemed to glow and writhe with ecstasy as it reclined. Taylor reached out to it and made contact.

 _Burn. Heat. Fire. Warmth._

She paused, she hadn't actually discussed with her dad what she was going to do. Shrugging, Taylor focused, her control felt more slippery than with the mass of ice spirits but she continued. Directing the flame spirit to burn caused no response and she grit her teeth. _More heat. More fire._

This time something happened. The flame grew brighter, changing colour to a bright yellow. The candle began to melt quicker, and the flame increased in size. Another spirit uncurled from the centre and joined the first, the process speeding up as before. A third appeared just as the candle burnt out, the light vanishing. Taylor groaned and prepared to ask her dad for another candle when she noticed she spirits were still there. The effort to maintain the connections was increasing, and a faint pressure began to build at the back of her head.

She let the spirits go once her skull began to ache, the pain fading immediately.

Turning to look at her father, she spoke, "I guess I can keep the spirits here after the source disappears."

"Why did they fade away then?"

"It was giving me a headache, and becoming harder the longer they were there."

"Hmm, you might want to remember that. Oh and before we forget, it seems like you can create more spirits with spirits of the same type. With both the ice and fire ones…"

She interrupted him, "Yeah I noticed, the effect was greater the more there were as well, it was self-sustaining in a way."

"As long as there was fuel, yes it was." Her dad stared into the distance for a moment before replying, "I think it's an exponential increase, doubling the spirits means you can increase the effect twice as quickly, which in turn would double the number of spirits you can use."

"That sounds pretty powerful." Taylor grinned, her powers, as weird as they were, seemed pretty powerful. She needed time to ramp up – almost like Lung in a way, she thought with irony – but once she was, she would have a lot of power at her disposal.

"I'd be careful the process doesn't spiral out of control through, you don't want to accidentally burn down a building."

"I-I don't think that would be a problem, I have pretty good control over the spirits, and I form connections automatically once I've given an order."

"Hmm, that's a relief. But I don't want you practising with dangerous ones without me to oversee."

Taylor clenched her hands, and prepared to give a retort, but opening her mouth caused her dad to interrupt before she could.

"Taylor, you are _fifteen._ You'll be bound to take risks, and even if you do have a resistance to your own powers, everything around you doesn't." He paused, and walked over towards Taylor, resting a hand on her shoulder, "I'm just trying to be a parent. And powers are dangerous. _Everyone_ knows that. I'm not going to restrict you forever, just until we both know you have full control. Okay sweetie?"

"I guess."

"And I'm not stopping you from using your powers, just the dangerous ones."

She let out a breath, and met his eyes. "I know…its just…I have powers! I can do something with this! I can make a difference, I won't be useless like they…" Taylor stopped talking as expression hardened.

"Useless? Who are _they_?"

"The bullies."

"Taylor, you are not useless. You are smart and beautiful…."

"I am neither dad! Everyone at school can see it, why can't you!"

She pushed him away and ran to the backdoor, not looking behind as she stormed upstairs. Red and white petals fluttered around her as she realised what she had said, and she reached up to her face, removing her glasses as tears seeped out of her eyes.

Red, bubbling shapes rose up from the ground and the blue, tear shaped spirits appeared as well.

Taylor reached out to one without thinking, one of the boiling, red pools. She connected… _Anger. Stress. Aggression._

Disgusted, she broke the connection, the spirit dissolving into nothingness. Her thought stopped as she realised something; her anger was fading slightly. Taylor connected to a tear this time, and broke the connection in same way. She felt…slightly happier. Again, she connected to the spirits around her, anger, sadness and guilt. She broke them all at once and gasped at the shock that passed through her head. Clarity. Her mind felt lighter, all of the emotions just _gone_ , replaced with a dull ache.

With the clarity of thought, she realised the impact of her words. Taylor grimaced and made her way back downstairs. Her dad was slumped on the sofa, the strange, ribbon-like spirit dancing around him…protectively. She ignored it and sat next to him.

"I'm…sorry."

"I know kiddo, I just wasn't expecting _that._ "

"Heh," She grunted out a laugh, "Neither was I. I hadn't realised I was keeping all that bottled up. Guess I just needed to vent."

He pulled her closer, wrapping an arm around her. Taylor lent into it and rested her head on his shoulder. "I didn't realise it was _that_ bad, even after the…locker."

She smiled grimly, "Oh it is. High school…its literal hell on Earth."

He changed the subject, "These powers mean that much to you then?"

Taylor nodded, they really did. She could be a hero now. She could prove them wrong, all of them. "Yes."


End file.
